AI finds potential COVID-19 drugs that can be used on humans immediately

AI company Gero has reviewed the existing drugs and other agents tested on humans andfoundpotential coronavirus treatments. The list of found drugs has been released to initiate urgent clinical trials and collaborations.

Gero, the leader in AI-driven drug discovery, has used its AI platform to identify the potential anti-COVID-19 agents that have been previously tested on humans. Six of them have been approved, three were withdrawn, and the other nine have been already tested in clinical trials. The emergency of the situation, as well as the legal and regulatory status of these agents, make it possible to start immediate clinical trials for most of the suggested drugs.

The company used its AI drug discovery platform to identify molecules with potential effects on the coronavirus replication. The fact that this time the potential treatments were found among the existing drugs marks a significant improvement over previous efforts to use AI to predict molecules active against COVID-19. The discovery makes it possible to start clinical trials in a matter of weeks.

Some of the drugs have been well known for decades and approved in many countries for human or veterinary use, some of them even have confirmed effects against SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, while others have not been known previously for any related effects.

The drugs found to be potentially effective include:

Niclosamide – an oral anthelmintic drug used to treat parasitic infections in millions of people worldwide. Niclosamide has been approved in Italy, the United States (now withdrawn), France, and some other countries.

Nitazoxanide – a broad-spectrum antiparasitic prescription drug, that is used in medicine for the treatment of various helminthic, protozoal, and viral infections. Approved in the U.S., India, Mexico and some other countries. Niclosamide and Nitazoxanide have been recently recommended to be tried as COVID-19 treatment in patients.

Afatinib - a prescription medicine approved in the U.S. for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), along with 28 countries within the EU, China, and some other countries. Ixazomib - a prescription medicine used in combination with the medicines REVLIMID® (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone to treat multiple myeloma in patients who have received at least one prior treatment for their multiple myeloma. Approved in the U.S., EU and some other countries.

Reserpine was originally isolated from the flower Rauwolfia serpentina in 1952. It was once used as a treatment for high blood pressure and psychotic episodes. It has been approved in Italy, Germany, France and some other countries. The list of potential anti-COVID-19 drugs also includes several senolytics. Senolytics (molecules that "kill" the so-called senescent or damaged cells) are attracting the growing interest from the academic world and the biotech industry for their potential against a range of age-related diseases and ageing itself.

Although some of the drugs with anti-coronavirus potential have been approved for use on humans for other medical indications and are immediately available to the public, Gero strongly urges against self-treatment and reaffirms the necessity of acting in line with the national regulations, including the rules for off-label use of available drugs.

Call to action

We urge pharmaceutical industry, Academia, healthcare organisations, and all interested parties to collaborate extensively on the testing and further development of identified drug candidates to bring it to patients ASAP.

We invite investors and pharmaceutical companies interested to develop COVID-19 drugs to contact us for more details, including a full list of identified drug candidates available for commercial development and immediate start of clinical trials.

We also invite pharmaceutical companies to share structural and/or omics data on their drug pipelines with Gero to find anti-COVID-19 and other new uses for their drug candidates using Gero AI drug discovery platform.

About GeroGero is a Singapore-based company that aims to discover new drugs targeting complex diseases using the next-generation artificial intelligence platform. Gero has managed to overcome limitations of the previous-generation AI by offering not just a correlation analysis of biological big data, but causative models built with the use of physics of complex dynamic systems in addition to advanced machine learning. The first time the capabilities of Gero approach have been showcased was for a such complex condition as ageing. The interventions designed by Gero AI have enabled life extension and rejuvenation of multiple species, including mammals, demonstrating unprecedented results for the entire field.

One of the recent Gero publications on drug repurposing in ageing using machine learning techniques has been just credited as the most popular paper in 2019 in the Nature Research Journal - Scientific Reports. In 2019, Gero has also been named one of the most prominent players of the Artificial Intelligence in the Life Extension Market along with Google and IBM.

The first Gero drug discovery project is in cancer supportive care targeting chemotherapy-induced frailty/accelerated ageing with further expansion into other ageing-related indications.

Gero works with the researchers from top-tier institutions (Harvard Medical School, MIT, University of Edinburgh, National University of Singapore, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center etc.) to push forward research and develop therapeutics and extensively publishes results in peer-reviewed journals (list of publications). Gero work is supported by serial pharmaceutical investors, IT and AI entrepreneurs with previous exits to Facebook and Google. Gero AI platform is currently extensively used for drug discovery, drug repurposing, and in clinical decision support system projects.

Medical disclaimerThis material does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients, or recommend therapy. This information is for the purpose of initiating collaborations for further research of identified compounds. The absence of a warning for a given drug or combination thereof should not be in any way construed to indicate safety, effectiveness, or appropriateness for any given patient. The Gero PTE LTD does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of materials provided. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have any questions about the substances you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.